Where you see their butt,
and their trap stays shut,
at the nudie bar.

- Al Bundy

So, I’m driving home from work tonight, listening to XM’s MLB Homeplate, and what do I hear? Some guys calling in to discuss rumors of a sighting of Alex Rodriguez hanging out, Saturday night, at some place called the Penthouse Club in Tampa.

Appropriately, the X-M show hosts, Rob Dibble and Kevin Kennedy, laughed off the story with lines like “Boys will be boys, and men will be men,” etc. – and they did not make a big deal of it.

If the media somehow decides to run with the story, which is always possible, it would be a shame. I would bet that more than half of the players, coaches, and managers of big league teams (out there today) – single and married – are going to gents-clubs like this (at some time or another). If you’re going to make a big deal out of it for A-Rod, then you better a big deal out of it for all the rest of “the boys” in MLB.

Hey, everyone knows that I’m not shy about calling on Alex when I think he has a shortcoming. But, this is not an issue that deserves to be discussed about on baseball-talk radio. Actually, shame on the X-M call screeners – if they knew what these callers wanted to bring up – for allowing this to get on the air.

Comments on Even I Can’t Believe It’s Reached This Level

I’ve listened to XM MLB 175 quite a bit over the past year & a half. Dibs and Kevin are generally big supporters of Arod. The alleged call screeners from my experience should all seek other employment. They sound like 13 year old kids who nevertheless are given too much authority there. I believe there’s 1 screener there who’s a Yankee fan, but the rest of the personnel there are rabid Red Sox fans. If the merger takes place between XM and Sirius, Mel Karmazin will be in charge. I’m continuing my research to deduce where his fandom lies.

rbj – I can say that’s 100% true – because the 1st guy that I heard on the radio said that he *was* there on Sunday – and that the girls told him about A-Rod being there the night before.

That’s why I stressed “rumors” – - the day that you start to believe what strippers tell you is the day that you lose all of the money in your savings account. Just because they told this guy the story, it does not mean that it’s true.

While I agree that players, coaches and media personnel have the right to enjoy what the rest of us do on a daily basis without much ado, I did respect what one of the callers was addressing in his comments.

If any player is seen at a nightclub consumming ample alcohol at, let’s say 1:00 in the morning, and he has three fielding errors in a game not much more than 12 hours later; then it might be safe to assume that the player’s recreational activities affected his professional play. None of us can verify the caller’s comments, but there was no reason to believe otherwise.

In Arod’s case it is interesting to note that his wife must be quite understanding of his recreational activities. She has been present at ST with their daughter; however, it is not known whether or not she actually stays in Tampa during the entire period of time. And does she allow him a “boys night out” routinely? It has been no mystery that ARod jets around to nightclubs and casinos during the off-season, and at the same time has some rather good looking women in close proximity. Of course money can produce a great deal of allowances that the common man does not ever get in his lifetime.

For me, A-Rod’s marriage is A-Rod’s business. I won’t touch it. As far as being out late, etc. – hey, it’s Spring Training. If this was the night before a WS game, yes, I would be on him for that. But, during ST? Trust me, he’s not the only one out late at night having fun in FLA. You think Giambi, Damon and Jeter are home in bed by 9 PM each night?